Vanna White Just Shared a Super Rare Photo of Her Children and Boyfriend
Vanna White has been the subject of more media headlines recently than ever before now as she’s filled in for Pat Sajak as host of Wheel of Fortune. To ring in the new year, White shared a rare photo of her family on social media.
A New Year’s snapshot of the family
Recently, White shared a photo on Instagram with her longtime boyfriend, John Donaldson, and her two kids, Giovanna and Nicholas. She captioned the photo: “Happy New Year from our family to yours.”
Both Giovanna (born in 1997) and Nicholas (born in 1994) come out of White’s marriage with her ex-husband, George Santo Pietro. They were married in 1990 and got divorced in 2002.
When talking about her children, whom she affectionally calls “Niko” and “Gigi,” White said, Niko is an organic farmer and Gigi is graduating college soon. She explained that she is supportive of them taking different career paths than her, saying, “[M]y son is — he just loves farming and all that stuff. He’s my country boy And my daughter is a city girl so she’s very much into photography and artsy stuff and writing, so she might do something in photography or magazines. She’s not quite sure yet … So got a little bit of both!”
Will Vanna White get married again?
Many people have wondered if White and Donaldson will eventually tie the knot. In a recent interview with Closer Weekly, White revealed that marriage isn’t a big deal right now for the couple, though it doesn’t seem out of the question.
“We’ve been together for eight years and it seems to be working so we’re both happy, so in my eyes I feel — in both of our eyes — we feel married. So I don’t think you necessarily have to have a piece of paper unless you want to. Everybody’s different, so for each his own,” she said. “We’re faced with a lot of positives and negatives, and we have to accept them and do whatever we can to get through it. It’s like if you break an arm — it takes time, but it does heal. Life is not perfect — just try to make the best of it. Be strong, be kind to people, and be happy.”
And for those who tuned in during her hosting gig, White is grateful for the positivity. She said, “I wasn’t able to rehearse a lot before I [took over] because it happened suddenly. So I didn’t have any experience under my belt, you know. I was just kind of thrown into it. It was a lot to comprehend to carry a show, and I’m a very shy person anyway and don’t really talk a lot. So to have to carry the show was kind of scary.”
But all in all, she says the feedback has been good and the experience got better and better. “It was very hard for me to watch because I don’t know, I think people don’t like to see themselves in pictures or to see themselves in videos or whatever, so it was kind of hard to watch because I was very nervous doing the show. But I did it and again, the feedback has been great. And the fans have been very supportive so that makes me feel good. And I’m also happy to say that Pat Sajak is back to work now!”
Wheel of Fortune airs daily in syndication.
